


Florescence

by ghostfly



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mages
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:01:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27551944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostfly/pseuds/ghostfly
Summary: "This is serious, can you take off the bunny ears?"
Relationships: Liu Yang Yang/Na Jaemin
Comments: 9
Kudos: 81
Collections: '00 FIC FEST ROUND TWO





	Florescence

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #00330 <3_<3
> 
> full disclosure, my main source of mage knowledge comes from playing an unholy amount of world of warcraft as a teenager so i wasn't too sure of how to place a mage in a normal world minus the fancy robes and fireballs and all that, but an attempt was made!
> 
> don't let the dramatic beginning fool you, this is mainly soft with a single speck of spice

Answers. That’s all Jaemin wants. After fifty-seven days of struggling to find them, he’s beginning to consider the possibility that the abilities he’s spent most of his life learning may never return. He doesn’t know how to cope with that.

Vague images of the night of the incident continuously flash inside his mind, no matter what he does to suppress them. A downpour, ferocious winds ripping through the trees as he runs to Jeno, a force throwing them to the ground and knocking the breath out of their lungs. A shadow growing larger and darker, looming above them as it resists their spells that have no hope of containing something so boundless. Jaemin had never felt such dread before but despite how dire the situation appeared, he refused to let himself give up. The terror coming off of his typically fearless best friend in waves managed to generate enough strength within Jaemin to execute one final plan of escape, one that he wasn’t even sure he was capable of invoking: a portal.

Jaemin was aware that his last-ditch effort to save them both was a long shot but by some miracle he was successful, the universe allowing them to live another day. The portal gracelessly spat them out on a rooftop in an industrial complex just a few miles away from their neighborhood, which was fine by Jaemin considering he really hadn’t even expected to survive the night. They made their way back home in a daze, deciding to go on foot, needing the time to breathe and process what had just happened. Jaemin insisted on walking Jeno to his own apartment first, shoving him through the front door as he protested. He was pleading with Jaemin to stay, telling him that he shouldn’t be alone right now, and only relented when Jaemin promised to text him as soon as he got back. As Jeno made his way upstairs, Jaemin’s eyes searched for the window containing an ever curious Bongsik peering through the curtains as always. He waited until he saw the lights turn on and waved goodbye to the cat before heading home, his shoulders tensing further with each shadow he stepped over.

When Jaemin awoke the next morning, he was bruised and aching all over but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle on his own. He was determined to make it into work that day, desperately needing something else to focus on. All seemed to be going well enough until he started the process of covering his bruises the way he normally would, manipulating their appearance through magic. The moment he hovered his hand above the darkest bruise on his shin, he was expecting to feel warmth in the area and to see the mark fading away, but it remained exactly as it was. Instead, there was only a tightness in his chest. Constricting. He tried and tried again on smaller wounds but nothing would budge, and when he took a break to attempt a much simpler spell that would freeze the water in his glass, that too, failed. He suddenly felt cold all over, a knot forming in his stomach.

He tried to calm his nerves by telling himself that _of course_ he wouldn’t have the energy to do even basic spells seeing as it had just been drained due to how much he had to expend on creating that portal. He’d obviously need to rest more before his power began to restore itself, so while he continued to show up to work everyday, he focused only on the most basic tasks and let the magic be.

As the days turned to weeks and the weeks turned into months, true panic began to set in. It shouldn’t have been taking this long. He’d started dodging Jeno’s calls and brushing off his concerned texts with assurances that he was fine, though he wished he could confide in someone about his current problem. He just couldn't bear to add an extra burden to his friend’s own mountain of difficulties.

And now, today, the only thing holding him together is his stupid, sad little job. It isn’t actually so bad, aside from customers complaining about the amount of crushed oreos on their sundae and the occasional cone dropped on the floor by a kid or drunken teenager (both resulting in tears), but the longer he goes without being able to use his abilities, the more he’s starting to hate it here. Jaemin's stress has become increasingly apparent to anyone who spends more than thirty seconds with him, and his new coworker is definitely beginning to notice that something's up if the frequent sideways glances he’s been shooting at Jaemin are anything to go by. 

It's just the two of them in the shop tonight. With the nights growing windier and more frigid, business has been slowing down and there isn’t as much to do to keep busy aside from cleaning things that have already been cleaned multiple times, just to give their boss the illusion of their usefulness in the event that she decides to drop by unannounced. It also gives Jaemin a semblance of control, and that’s what he thinks he needs right now. He’s been wiping away at the same section of glass for at least fifteen minutes, unable to move on until it’s completely spotless, and he can feel that he’s being judged before Yangyang even opens his mouth.

“Are you, like, okay?”

Jaemin pauses his forceful scrubbing and loosens his grip on the rag when he sees Yangyang leaning his mop against the counter to face him fully, looking genuinely concerned. He sighs and starts venting before his brain can catch up with his tongue and tell him that it’s a foolish thing to do. It's not as if he has anything left to lose.

“Well, I’m on the verge of total mental collapse. I’m actually broken, I think, and nothing matters right now, except for this tiny smudge right here that you can only see if you squint. So, no, to answer your question, no, I'm not okay.”

Yangyang blinks. “Okaaaay...” His tone becomes more gentle, like he’s talking to a child. “Do you wanna talk about it?” He takes a few steps closer to Jaemin and the mop behind him clatters to the floor, startling them both. “Shit, sorry!” The sound snaps Jaemin out of his self-absorption and it’s then that he notices the headband on Yangyang’s head, a pair of white and pink rabbit ears with a small carrot attached. 

"You know, what? Yeah, I would like to. But this is serious, can you take off the bunny ears? You might want to have a seat, too."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, I found them in the storage closet and now they're mine." Yangyang hops onto the counter and swings his legs back and forth. "This is my serious seat for serious discussions," he informs Jaemin, patting the glass hood covering the ice cream. "Lay it on me, man."

Jaemin stares. "I just cleaned that." 

"Sorry, sorry! This matter is more urgent than a few fingerprints though, right? Tell me." Yangyang folds his hands in his lap and looks at Jaemin intently, trying to behave. There’s something about Yangyang that Jaemin can’t put his finger on, but it makes him want to spill every single one of his secrets and he might as well do so since the worst that could happen is Yangyang thinking he’s a freak, or that he’s playing the world’s least funny prank on him.

Jaemin isn’t really sure where to start, how to even begin to go about explaining what he does (or rather, what he _did)_ to someone who has likely never encountered someone like himself before, and is probably very unlikely to believe a word he says. 

“I…there was a fight. More like a battle, actually,” Jaemin begins, leaning back against the glass next to Yangyang, no longer giving a shit about smudges now that he has another distraction. “I was trying to protect my friend. There was something I did to make sure that we got out alive and...it worked but it drained me of power completely. And now I can’t do _anything_ like that, not even the simplest things, things I've been studying for years, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do them again.” The now familiar constricting feeling starts creeping into his chest again.

Yangyang hums. “So your buddy got jumped and you tried to help and got injured? And you're into, like, martial arts or something?”

A manic laugh threatens to escape from Jaemin’s mouth but he holds it back. It’s a valid question, and Jaemin desperately wishes it were that simple.

“Or something, yeah. By power I don’t mean the physical kind. It’s all energy, it’s focusing energy to make something bend to your will, or to summon something. Manipulating elements and reality. But you can’t just direct that energy without knowing how to channel it, it has to come from somewhere, and I still know _how_ , it just won’t work.”

“...Uh-huh.” Great, now Yangyang is looking at him like he’s grown another head. Jaemin can’t say he blames him. 

“I’m well aware that it sounds insane. You can either believe me or not, it doesn’t make a difference. Either way, I’ll still be screwed.” Jaemin kind of wishes he'd believe him, though. It would at least make him feel less alone, although he thinks he may not deserve that considering the fact that loneliness is an issue he brought upon himself willingly.

Yangyang doesn’t answer right away and Jaemin wonders if he’s considering the most polite way to tell him he never wants to speak to him again, but a moment later that thought is interrupted by a giggle. 

"I’m sorry, I’m not laughing at _you,_ this is just a lot to take in,” Yangyang says, putting his hands up in apology when Jaemin whips his head around to face him with a glare. “I'd ask you to prove it by showing me something cool but if you lost your spark or whatever, I guess you can't. Convenient."

“If I ever get it back I promise I’ll show you. I think you’ve earned it after sitting here and listening to all of this, especially since this wasn’t part of the job description when you applied to work here.”

Yangyang's nose scrunches up in confusion. "Wait a second, why would you have a regular job, then? Shouldn't you have been using those superpowers to make millions?" He claps a hand onto Jaemin's shoulder making him wince, "Bro, you could have your own TV show!"

"They're not _superpowers_ , they—" Jaemin pinches the bridge of his nose, "Calling them superpowers makes what I do sound so easy, like they were just handed to me. I wasn't born knowing how to do these things, there was no freak accident, I didn't get bitten by a radioactive spider. I've spent a _lot_ —" a lump forms in Jaemin's throat, mind racing with a list of all of the milestones he's missed out on, all the invitations from friends he passed up to pursue his dream. He swallows it down and continues, "—a lot of time studying this field of magic, but I'm still very much a beginner. You can study it for your entire life and still not know everything, three lifetimes and you might come close."

"Damn. Okay, you totally just avoided my questions to critique my word choice, so that's a little sus," Yangyang says, narrowing his eyes.

"Sus?"

"Yeah."

"What does that mean?"

An amused grin blooms across Yangyang's face until Jaemin thinks he can count every single one of his teeth. He reminds him of the Cheshire cat, or perhaps an unusually friendly and kind of attractive piranha.

"You don't go on the internet or get out much, do you? Too busy with your nose stuck in dusty, old books, huh? Okay, so maybe you're not fucking with me."

Jaemin raises his eyebrows in disbelief. "Me not knowing the meaning of a word makes my story more believable?"

Yangyang snorts, "Well, yeah, that and the fact that you don't really come across as a crazy person. I mean, we've only been working together for a few weeks but you seem pretty alright to me. You don’t _look_ like someone who would make up something like this."

"Crazy has no particular appearance, Yangyang. Now I'm worried about your judgment...that's a conversation for another day." He's given Jaemin an idea, though, and maybe he shouldn’t, but— he steps in front of Yangyang with his back to him and pulls up his shirt until he fully uncovers his shoulder blades. “You see these?”

"Whoa, tattoos? I can’t say I expected you to have so many. They look really pretty.”

“They’re runes. They help to channel that energy I was talking about before.” 

Jaemin hears a gasp behind him and feels a finger tracing one of the shapes in the center of his back. It makes him shiver, causing Yangyang to pull it away quickly. “Listen, I don’t normally go around touching people’s tattoos but man, you know those things are like...glowing, right?” He sounds almost panicked. “Are they supposed to do that?”

“ _What_? Are you sure?” Jaemin’s eyes widen and he suddenly notices how his body is starting to feel much warmer than it has in months. He stupidly tries to twist his neck around to see for himself but sadly, he's not built that way. In the midst of his attempt, his eye catches his reflection in the glass he had been cleaning earlier and it's clear enough for him to see that Yangyang wasn't lying. "They stopped the night of— oh my god. Oh god, I might not be completely broken!” His face lights up with the first genuine smile he’s had since the incident, and Yangyang mirrors his expression but he looks a bit overwhelmed, his brain probably working double time to process what he’s just seen.

“I don’t know what to say,” Yangyang admits, hopping down from the counter to turn Jaemin back around, pressing his whole palm against the tattoos this time. Jaemin lets it happen, the heat somehow growing even stronger under Yangyang’s cool touch, radiating throughout his body. He allows himself to sink into it and sighs in relief. “It feels like you’re burning up.”

“It’s okay, that’s normal. All it means that I’m not as fucked as I thought I was.” Jaemin extends his right arm and forms a fist, trying to summon something within his hand. His disappointment is palpable when he spreads his fingers out and the flower he expects to see isn’t growing from his palm. “I guess it still needs more time, but what you saw is a good sign. I just have to be patient, which isn't something I'm super good at, but I'll try.”

“I’m happy for you, I really am,” Yangyang says sincerely, sounding a little breathless. They stay like that for a minute, pressed close together. The way they’re connected shouldn’t feel so intimate but it does, and Jaemin’s own breath catches. The moment is broken when Yangyang pulls his hand away to glance at his watch and swears. “We’re supposed to be closing already. Time sure flies when you’re trying to console your coworker but instead end up finding out that you know absolutely nothing about the rules of the universe.”

Being reminded that they’re in public, in an ice cream shop with large, brightly lit windows no less, makes Jaemin’s cheeks flush and he immediately adjusts his t-shirt so he’s covered up again. “I’m sorry for keeping you so long. Do you want to head home and I’ll double check that everything’s in order and close up?”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Yangyang says, shaking his head, “I don’t mind taking care of it myself. I think you’re the one who should get home, go play around with your powers and see if they go back to normal. We both have tomorrow off though,” he says, worrying at his bottom lip. Jaemin nods, knowing Jisung and their boss will be here instead. “Do you wanna, like, let me know how it goes? I’ll give you my number so you can tell me if you manage to turn a rat into a frog or whatever.”

"I, uh, don't have a phone," Jaemin says, looking sheepish.

Yangyang's jaw drops open in shock. "You don't have a—" He’s quickly interrupted by a cackle from Jaemin, who pulls his phone out of his pocket and hands it over to Yangyang, who snatches it with a roll of his eyes. "Shut up, of course I have a phone! Should've seen your face though,” he says smugly. “That's what you get for saying I'm 'too busy with my nose stuck in dusty, old books'. You were only half right anyway, they're not dusty."

"Mhm, sure." Yangyang quickly sends himself a text and saves his number in Jaemin's contacts as 'favorite coworker 🐰' before handing the phone back. "Now go home so _I_ can go home and eat, I'm starving. Keep me updated!"

“You got it,” Jaemin shoots finger guns at him as he quickly walks towards the door, eager to test his abilities out in the privacy of his apartment. “Goodnight, Yangyang. Get home safe. And thank you for listening to me,” he adds.

Yangyang’s answering smile is blinding. “Anytime.”

___

Lying on his kitchen floor is not what Jaemin expected to be doing today, but that’s the position he finds himself in after spending the entire morning and over half of the afternoon unsuccessfully trying to get his magical groove back. He contemplates texting Yangyang but he doesn’t think failure counts as an update that he would be interested in, and he also doesn’t want Yangyang to think he’s a loser with no actual friends to talk to about this. 

He’s still not ready to fill Jeno in on everything. Last night may have been an improvement from the past two months of total misery and self-pity but if he tells Jeno the news, he'll have to explain what happened in the first place and he already knows Jeno will be furious with him for not coming to him sooner. That conversation will have to wait until Jaemin feels fully like himself again.

It turns out that he doesn't have to make any decision at all because Yangyang calls him just as he's about to peel himself off the floor to brew yet another cup of coffee. Jaemin waits until the third ring to pick up in order to give off the appearance of having a life. 

"Hey, what's up?" Casual, no hint of desperation, perfect.

“Hey, I hope I’m not interrupting you in the middle of anything important! I just wanted to check in and see how things are going.”

Jaemin sighs, grabbing a mug out of the cabinet and popping a pod into the coffee machine. “Honestly, it’s not really going. Everything I try to do seems to start out the way it’s supposed to, I feel this sort of...vibration deep inside of me, but then it stops before anything comes out.”

“I don’t know if you realize how that sounded but just know that I am trying extremely hard to be mature right now. Please applaud me for my restraint.”

Stifling a laugh, Jaemin tucks his phone between his ear and shoulder for a second to free up both of his hands. “Woooow,” he says, clapping slowly, “You are _so_ strong. Just for the record, that's not really how I prefer it, though."

Yangyang chokes. Jaemin isn't sure on what (or what even possessed Jaemin to joke like that to cause that reaction in the first place) but there is definitely some sputtering happening before he clears his throat. "Oh my god. Noted." 

"So, anyway," Yangyang says, in an unsubtle attempt to change the subject, "You left your coat at the shop, I can drop it off at your place if you want."

Jaemin hadn't even noticed the cold as he walked to the bus stop last night, still running hot from the return of the energy flowing through the symbols on his back. He doesn't _need_ the coat right this second, but he thinks it'd be nice to see Yangyang again. And maybe it wouldn't hurt to ask him to stay for a few extra minutes seeing as it's a possibility that his close proximity to Yangyang had something to do with triggering Jaemin's...recovery? He doesn't know what to call it.

"Sure! It's really nice of you to offer, thank you. If you're not too busy after that would you mind sticking around for a little while? There's something I'd like to test out and it might help to have someone else nearby."

Yangyang easily agrees to his suggestion and tells Jaemin to text him his address. Once they hang up, Jaemin takes a deep breath and releases it slowly, trying to calm the fluttering in his chest; things are going to be okay.

___

After Jaemin quickly shows Yangyang around (not that he has very much to show, but it’s the polite thing to do), he catches Yangyang’s eyes lingering on a photo. “Ah, those are my friends from high school.”

Jaemin’s apartment is quite bare when it comes to personal touches, with the exception of the bookcase in the living room which is filled with books, of course, plus a small collection of vinyl records and succulents lining the shelves. The most important item, treasured more than any tome filled with intricate spells, equations, or maps of ley lines, is the framed photo of Jaemin at sixteen, smiling from ear to ear and surrounded by his best friends, Jeno, Donghyuck, and Renjun.

“It’s cute, you look so happy. That’s the happiest I’ve seen you, besides that moment last night when you realized you might not wither and die after all. Are you guys still close?”

The question makes Jaemin ache a little and he does his best to avoid another spiral of thoughts about his sacrificed social life. “We still keep in touch, yeah. This is Jeno,” he says, pointing him out in the photo. “He’s my best, best friend. We normally talk every single day, but…not so much lately.”

Yangyang raises an eyebrow. “Let me guess, you haven’t told him what’s been going on with you.”

“No,” Jaemin sighs, flumping down onto the couch and wishing to be absorbed into the sunken cushions. “I’m an idiot and I’m avoiding my best friend because I don’t want him to worry about me when he should be worrying about himself. He was the one I was trying to help that night. If he knew something was wrong he would never let it go, and I shouldn’t be the focus right now.” 

“Did you ever think that maybe ignoring him might make him worry about you _more_? And that he can make decisions for himself about what he can and can’t handle?” Yangyang asks him with no trace of judgment, but it’s as if he can tell that it’s something Jaemin needs to hear out loud from somebody else so he’s forced to confront it.

Jaemin hangs his head, knowing he’s right. Yes, he’d considered those things, but Jaemin is just as stubborn as Jeno. He hadn’t wanted Jeno to put himself into any dangerous situations while in search of a solution to Jaemin’s problem, because he would undoubtedly make it his personal mission and Jaemin would have no say in the matter; he couldn’t live with himself if anything bad happened to him, because of him. All excuses aside, Jaemin believes that being honest with Jeno is more important than his own fears, and he’d been foolish in letting that fear take control. 

Yangyang takes a seat next to Jaemin, carefully placing a hand on his knee and squeezing gently. “You don’t always have to do everything alone, you know that, right?” He looks at him with such understanding that it just might kill Jaemin, but he will absolutely not be dying right now, not when he’s just starting to make some progress. And maybe there are other reasons he’d like to continue existing, such as having the opportunity to get to know Yangyang a little better. Jaemin doesn’t think he deserves this much kindness but perhaps he can allow himself to be greedy just this once.

“I'm working on it," he replies, covering Yangyang's hand with his own and squeezing back before realizing his palms are kind of sweaty and retracting it. He's suddenly feeling a lot warmer, which could be his nerves acting up or due to Yangyang's presence once again, or a combination of the two. He elects to momentarily ignore that in favor of lightening the mood.

"You sure ask a lot of questions,” Jaemin remarks, teasingly squinting at Yangyang in suspicion. “How can I be so sure that you aren’t a secret government agent here to lull me into a false sense of security before hauling me off to some covert facility where you’ll perform experiments on me? Sus.”

The laughter that bursts out of Yangyang is loud enough to have Jaemin covering his ears as he curls in on himself, narrowly avoiding getting hit in the face with the decorative pillow Yangyang is currently trying to thwack him with. “Maybe you _are_ insane,” Yangyang comments after catching his breath. “Did you look the meaning up just so you could use it against me?”

Jaemin shrugs. “I may or may not have called the shop this morning to ask Jisung about it.”

“You are so weird, but I respect it. Anyway, speaking of questions, you still haven’t answered some of mine. Like, why _do_ you work at an ice cream shop when you can do all of this cool shit and what kind of stuff do you actually do?”

Both appear to be simple questions but Jaemin’s responses to them could take hours. For Yangyang’s sake, he’ll keep it brief. “Well, I work there so I can have at least one place where I feel completely normal. I realize how overdramatic I must sound at times”—Yangyang is nodding rapidly in agreement, fighting a smile, and it’s Jaemin’s turn to hit him with the pillow—” _Please._ It’s just a helpful distraction. As for what I do, it’s mainly healing and defensive magic. I don’t like dealing in anything that causes harm, I don’t have the stomach for it. So I stick to protection spells, nothing destructive.”

“I get that, I wouldn't peg you as the aggressive type. You might even be _too_ nice,” Yangyang muses. “What was the thing you were trying to do at the shop last night?”

“Ah, that’s something I only started practicing two or so years ago, it’s more complex than everything else I’ve tried so I haven’t gotten too far along with it yet. Basically, it’s drawing on the energy from an element to create something rather than using or modifying something already existing. A flower, for example.”

"Man, that's fucking cool," Yangyang says, his eyes widening. "I wish I could see it with my own eyes but maybe it's for the best that I can't. My brain might dissolve and leak right out of my ears from trying to comprehend it."

"Well, we can give it a shot, but if it _does_ work, I'm begging you to keep all of your internal organs intact and where they belong. Like I said, weak stomach."

"No promises," Yangyang laughs.

"Um, so that thing I mentioned wanting to try earlier…” Jaemin shifts himself sideways with his back to Yangyang so he doesn't have to face him as he says what he’s about to say. “If you can just do what you did last night, I think that it, uh, helps somehow. Like it helps me to draw on the energy I need." His face is actually burning now and he prays it isn't visible on his ears.

To Yangyang's credit, if he feels any discomfort radiating from Jaemin he doesn't show it, just going with the flow. "You mean like this?" Without hesitating, he slides a hand up the back of Jaemin's shirt, gliding it slowly up his spine until he reaches the placement of the runes. "You're not, like, trying to drain me of my lifeforce, right," he jokes.

“I promise you have nothing to worry about, cross my heart,” Jaemin swears.

The mysterious effect Yangyang has on him begins to go into action almost instantly, spreading out from the point of contact and beginning to course through the rest of Jaemin’s body. His touch feels hot enough to singe his flesh, but it doesn’t. It feels good, better than good, it feels _right._ Jaemin remains quiet, not wanting to say anything that might cause Yangyang to pull away from him. His respiratory rate picks up, along with that of his heart. He wonders if Yangyang can tell.

Yangyang breaks the silence first, a slight tremor to his voice. “I-is this okay?” 

Jaemin feels Yangyang’s breaths puffing out against his neck and he shivers despite the heat. He thinks he should assume it’s the energy pulsing through the runes that’s drawing him in closer, but he knows that’s not how it works; The field he’s trained in doesn’t compel anyone to do anything against their own wishes. Whatever this is, it’s beyond the reach of any powers, energy, or runes. 

“It’s more than okay.” Reaching behind himself, Jaemin grabs at Yangyang’s free hand and laces their fingers together, resting them on his thigh. He closes his eyes, not seeing the usual pitch black. Instead, the flames licking at his skin have spread even behind his eyelids, and it’s like sunlight filtering through the trees. It feels safe, and it calms every cell of his being. 

His reassurances must embolden Yangyang because a moment later he feels the soft press of lips at the top of his spine, Yangyang’s nose brushing against the short hairs at his nape, and maybe it should surprise him but it doesn't, somehow feeling like things are aligning as they were destined to. The charged air around them causes the hairs on Jaemin's arms to raise, and further waves of heat spread like wildfire throughout his body. "Please," he begs, the word slipping out of his mouth without his permission, but he can't help it when it feels _this_ good. After years of being married to his work and avoiding anything he perceived as a distraction to his calling, to finally feel worthy of being desired, to allow himself to let someone else touch him the way he'd dreamt of being touched...he thinks that it's about time. Yangyang continues to drop kisses down the line of his neck until the collar of Jaemin’s shirt prevents him from going any further, and he pauses to lean his forehead against Jaemin’s shoulder, breathing heavily and murmuring words into his skin that Jaemin currently lacks the capacity to decipher.

He doesn't get the chance to ask him to repeat himself when a fizzing sensation begins in Jaemin’s palm, still clasped within Yangyang’s, and he regretfully separates them to open his hand up. It feels as though a can of soda has been shaken under his skin, something bubbling up and getting ready to burst. Yangyang peeks over Jaemin’s shoulder to see what led him to pull away so hastily, and he freezes in shock. 

There, in the center of Jaemin’s palm, is the bud of a flower. 

It’s not a nauseating sight, there’s no bleeding to be concerned about. It’s beautiful, watching the deep red flower bloom out of Jaemin’s skin, growing to full size within a matter of minutes. Typically they move a little quicker than that, but this one seems to have wanted to take it's time and that's perfectly okay. The emotion overflowing Jaemin’s chest isn’t one he’s very familiar with and he couldn’t describe it if he tried, but for now he doesn’t have to; He can just breathe.

“Oh my god, you really did it! I’ve seen this flower before but I don’t know what you call it here, what’s the name?”

“It’s a Chrysanthemum,” Jaemin answers, his voice filled with awe, still gazing at the petals, the stem, the leaves, admiring them all. “I’ve never been able to create one of these until now."

"Congratulations on your new flower baby! I mean baby as in, like, the flower is your child, I'm not calling _you_ baby, like, I know we've moved really fast but we're not there yet and..." Yangyang trails off, laughing nervously.

When Jaemin turns to look at Yangyang, he's glowing, brighter than the runes on his back, and as he did the night before, Yangyang mirrors him. He truly feels that they’re on the same page, in more ways than one. 

"I got it, don't worry. We can take our time." Jaemin is fairly confident that he won't be turned down after all that just occurred, but he can't help but to run a (flower-free) hand through his hair, his own nervous habit. The energy is still thrumming within him and he feels like he might vibrate right out of his skin. "I know a pretty good place for a first date...if you're interested, that is."

Yangyang's tense expression melts into an easy grin and he nods. "Yeah, definitely. Where?"

"Seeing as I feel as though I've just walked through a furnace, and it's still technically our day off, how about some ice cream?"

Yangyang groans. "Oh no, I know a better one on the other side of town. C'mon, let's get that flower in a vase and get me a banana split that's bigger than my head," he urges, pushing himself up off the couch and tugging at Jaemin's elbow.

"Get 'you' one? Are you not planning to share," Jaemin pouts.

"Nope, I need something to keep me occupied while you apologize to your bro for being a big idiot." Jaemin opens his mouth to protest but Yangyang keeps going, "Text him, tell him to join us! I want to meet him. But start thinking of your apology on the way there because I also want to talk to you. And like, um, other stuff."

Jaemin doesn't attempt to argue, knowing it needs to be done and it's clear that Yangyang won't be swayed. He's already moved to Jaemin's kitchen, pulling an oversized mug out of a cabinet and filling it with water, presumably for the flower. It's not a vase but it'll do.

"What kind of stuff?" Jaemin asks, waggling his eyebrows suggestively as Yangyang returns.

Yangyang shoves the mug into Jaemin's hand and rolls his eyes. "I am _not_ that easy, don't look at me like that! You're sick. Remember when you didn't speak more than five words a day to me in the time we've been working together? Let's go back to that so I don't die. Please allow me to live."

"And I'm the dramatic one, right?" Jaemin laughs, placing the mug between his thighs for a moment so he can gently pluck the flower from his hand. As he does, it glows bright for a split second and pulls free easily, allowing Jaemin to place it in the water. He manages to find an empty spot on a shelf of his bookcase to display it and steps back to admire it for just a moment longer. Any remnants of stress inside of him dissipate and he's left feeling lighter than he ever has before. "Alright, let's go." 

Yangyang takes his hand and Jaemin lets him lead the way. 

**Author's Note:**

> jaemin's date ideas could use a little work and he's lucky yangyang thinks he'd look cute in the bunny ears he stole so he's willing to forgive and forget
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/yangyangfucker)


End file.
